Many types of garments which are hung onto clothes hangers have a tendency to slide off conventional clothes hangers. Such garments may be blouses which have wide neck openings or tank top-type garments. Furthermore, garments made from slippery materials such as silk or nylon may also slide off of convention clothes hangers.
Many clothes hangers are available which are directed to the problem set forth above. These include hangers having a non-slip material which is attached to the clothes hanger through various manufacturing processes. U.S. Pat. No. 5,277,345, issued Jan. 11, 1994, discloses a hanger having heat shrinkable tubes which are fitted on the ends of a clothes hanger and that are shrunk onto the ends by heating them until the tubes are secured to the hanger. Such a heat shrinking process adds to the cost of the clothes hanger and does not permit the tubes to be removed from the hanger for use on a different hanger. U.S. Pat. No. 5,078,307, issued Jan. 7, 1992, discloses a plastic hanger having a flocking material sprayed over the hanger to provide a non-slip surface. This configuration requires the extra step of spraying the flocking material on the hanger, and the flocking material is not removable. U.S. Pat. No. 5,056,694, issued Oct. 15, 1991, discloses a clothes hanger having heavy rubber pads which are fastened to the ends of the clothes hanger. These pads may be expensive to produce and install. Some clothes hangers have foam glued to each end of the clothes hanger in order to prevent the garment from slipping off the hanger. All of these clothes hangers require the user to purchase the entire hanger to take advantage of the non-slip features.
Other types of clothes hanger pads include foam pockets which are stretched over the ends of clothes hangers in order to provide a non-slip surface at the end of the hangers. Some have foam pieces which are stretched from one end of the hanger to the other end over the top of the hanger in order to provide a non-slip surface for the garment to hang on. However, these foam pockets tear easily, quickly deform through stretching, are not reliable for long-term use and must be replaced frequently. Many of these foam pockets cover most of the coat hanger arms and are not particularly aesthetically attractive.